More loss in Haiti.
Among the many dead after the earthquake in Haiti are the three women who basically constituted the fledgling women’s movement in Haiti. Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan, and Magalie Marcelin had just begun the work of reforming a judiciary that never took rape seriously and creating an infrastructure to protect girls and women against domestic violence and trafficking. They were killed at a time when they were most needed, since post-earthquake chaos tends to leave women especially vulnerable.
All three women had created the most powerful women's organizations in Haiti, which each focused on combating the stunning and widespread violence against Haitian women, detailed in a 2000 report by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. At the time of the report, the Minister for Social Affairs and Labour "estimated that 90 per cent of Haitian women were victims of violence," due largely to Haiti's stunning and widespread poverty combined with a machismo culture that had, until recently, considered women legal minors.
Both Merlet and Coriolan had served as top advisers to the Ministry of Women. The Ministry was instrumental in raising awareness of violence against women and creating programs to help women gain financial independence.
[The] Ministry had initiated workshops in all provinces to help increase women’s independence. These workshops are intended to teach and enhance women’s vocational skills, such as handicraft and arts, in order to decentralize migration and ensure training for women and increase their capacities. Similarly, from 1991 to 1994, at the national penitentiary, the Ministry installed handicraft workshops for women detainees, selling the products on the outside. This revenue, which amounted to up to $50 per week, assisted women detainees in providing for their children from prison.
Merlet also worked with Eve Ensler to bring the V-Day movement to Haiti, including organizing a performance of the The Vagina Monologues, and creating a V-Day Haiti Sorority Safe House in Port Au Prince. You can hear a report and interview with Ensler on Democracy Now! here.